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October 15, 2017

Yep, I'm Crazy

Say hello to Connor's new ride!

Husband says it looks like half a horse trailer.

There are going to be a lot of people out there that think I'm crazy for this, and I don't blame you one bit. My new trailer is a 2017 Shadow Stablemate 1H slant with dressing room. You did read that right: that's a one horse.

I've been looking at this trailer for over a year now, so this is definitely not a snap decision. My justifications:

- I refuse to haul two horses with a half ton pickup.
- I don't want to own more than one horse at once, ever, unless one is totally retired.
- I couldn't use the KB's second stall for storage because it wasn't a stud divider.
- Connor is tiny.
- I want to simplify my life, and the amount of maintenance the things in my life require.
- Resale value is overrated (says the owner of the 1H slant and the 16" Dressage saddle)

Warmblood height, because what trailer isn't 7'6 these days?

Once I settled on a 1H, I started shopping. There are more options than you'd think. Some were too expensive (Double D and Equispirit), some were so narrow they made me nervous about stability (4 Star) and some didn't have enough of a dressing room (Brenderup Baron One).

The divider locks all the way to the left in case you want to use it to transport...a four wheeler? IDK.

The Shadow ticked all the boxes. It has a proper dressing room. It's built on the chassis of a two horse trailer, so stability is fantastic (and I got to test that out on the 2 hour drive home in 30mph crosswinds and driving rain - it never moved). The horse's weight is positioned right over the axles, and I actually think it's slightly wider than my KB was.

Technically it's an 18" short wall. Hahaha.

Most importantly, it's 1,400lbs less than my KB was, at 2,100 lbs empty. I never really felt undertrucked with the KB behind me, but stopping definitely required some brainpower, planning and finesse. I was immediately much more comfortable with the Shadow behind me - braking with it felt like I was just braking the truck. 1,400 fewer pounds also means less wear and tear on my 12 year old truck and slightly better gas mileage, too.

Grate dropped.

I had planned to buy one brand new from the dealership because they're extremely cheap as far as new trailers go, but then the local Shadow dealer raffled one off at a backyard Western show in my area earlier this summer. I figured the raffle trailer would turn up for sale sooner or later because I think I'm the only person on the planet that wants a one horse trailer.

Brrrrrrand new.

The raffle trailer did show up for sale, and I was the only person who called about it (told ya!). I ended up getting it for $2,000 less than I was going to pay the dealer. Brand new with every option I wanted, and a seven year warranty plus a two year tire warranty.

Factory insulated roof! I was going to DIY this, very glad I don't have to!

The dressing room has slightly less square footage than my old one, so I need to maximize available space by mounting everything I can on the walls, which sounds like a party to my organization-obsessed self. But that's a subject for another post!

Boot for scale. I can stand comfortably underneath that saddle rack, I have no idea why it was mounted so high. Good thing I don't ride Western.

So there you go. It's not the trailer for everyone, and I don't blame you if you think I'm crazy, but I'm in love with it. I can't wait to use it the next two weekends!

Anyone else ever considered or known someone with a one horse trailer?

29 comments:

I will 100% admit to being skeptical when you said you were getting a one horse, but this is gorgeous and I totally get it now! So much space for that weight, Connor's going to feel like royalty. And that deal? Legit.And what is that, a saddle rack for NBA players?

I'm hoping that the saddle rack comes down a bit. It looks like it ticks all your boxes and that's all that matters. Plus no one can ask you to take their horse to a show with yours. That dressing room looks like mine and I find I can get a lot of stuff in there. I had Ed mount a metal grate (like they use in store displays) to the wall by the door and I can hang a ton of stuff on it.

The saddle rack is welded in place, unfortunately. My trailer guy could definitely lower it, but I'm going to try to work with it first and see what I think. I'm with you on the gridwall, that's my plan too. I already have one section from The Organized Barn and Trailer and I plan to get more. Where did you get yours?

Out of all of the ones I saw, it was a toss up between the Double D and EquiSpirit for my absolute favorite, but they're just so expensive and there are NO used ones out there. Glad to know she likes it!

I HATE one horse trailers, but I LOVE that this one is on a 2 horse chassis! We hauled my now 24yo QH in a one horse when he was a yearling and we basically had to beat him to get in it for the trip home. It was then that I vowed to never own one, but I like this version. I think this might actually be a fun trailer to use just for foxhunting. I have a ginormous 4 horse so I've been thinking I would like a smaller trailer for just hunting.

I'm curious to know what the one your QH objected to was, was it one of those skinny narrow ones? If I was a horse, I think I'd object to getting into one of those too. I haven't tried Connor getting into this one yet, but it looks like a slant or stock trailer, so I can't imagine he'll object. I can see it being an ideal second trailer, especially based on price, they're only $8700 new (plus options of course)!

That's really good to know! Yeah, it's tough to tell from the pictures without a horse in there, but it's much bigger back there than it looks. He'll have a lot more room in it than he did in my 2H, and be more comfortable without the warmblood height chest bar hitting him in the neck.

I love shiny brand new trailers! The one horse seems perfect for what you need it for too. My trailer has a bunch of shelving installed along the top of it, you could possibly look into putting that along the front wall? I love it for storing stuff I don't really use often (some sort of bag with first aid stuff and trailer/truck tools that came with the trailer), blankets, shipping boots, etc. Very handy!

I had NO idea this was an option and I LOVE it! I'm totally going to do some shopping and research since prior to this the only 1 horse trailer I knew about was the Brenderup and one really sketchy home built one that's been for sale near me for a few years.